Will iPadOS 18 work on iPad 6th Generation?

You can compare iPad models here:

iPad - Compare Models - Apple

Whichever iPad model you choose, you would be well advised to purchase as much internal storage as your budget might reasonably allow - as internal storage (and other hardware) cannot be changed, upgraded or extended. The available internal storage is fixed for the entire life of the device. If you run out of internal storage for your documents, photos and other data, you will forever struggle and become a source of frustration. It is far better to have more storage than you need, than to need more storage than you have.

A good rule of thumb is to quantify how much data storage you will need - add a healthy margin - then double it. If you are unable to quantify your data storage needs, it becomes more difficult. Whilst I and others cannot cannot make definitive recommendations for your personal needs, objectively I would council against purchase of any iPad with any less than 256GB storage.

Within the Apple Support Communities we see regular tales of woe and disappointment when storage requirements are exceeded, necessitating replacement of the device; by contrast, we never see complaint of having too much available storage. It is relatively easy to fill limited internal storage space; perhaps consider higher tiers of storage as providing room for growth as your needs develop or mature - potentially extending the useful usable life of the device. 

Consider also the functional differences between WiFi Only and WiFi+Cellular models of iPad. Only WiFi+Cellular models include GPS capabilities - which may impact any Apps or features that require accurate and consistent location data, such as Mapping - which may be important for travel. Purchase of a WiFi+Cellular model does not commit you to using Cellular connections, but provides this flexibility should it be needed.  WiFi Only models of iPad have no Cellular or GPS functions at all.

Definitely will go for a minimum of 256. Reading your article confused about versions. Mine is Ver 6 but I see later models with versions 4 & 5 then there re also versions 9.. 14.

Not sure if purchasing for AI compatibility is important, quality of my screen on my ver 6 is more than adequate so don’t see a need for higher quality..

Too many choices….. but thanks for your advice

cx500d wrote:

Why? iPad 6 gen has the same processor as IPad 7 gen.

While the iPad6 and iPad7 have near identical technical specifications, the reasons why Apple has chosen to differentiate between the two models - and limit the iPad6 to iPadOS 16.x - is known only to Apple.

Contributors here are all end-users, just like you. Other than information published by Apple, nobody here has any insight into Apple’s product design or update support decisions.

So I went with a iPad 10 and upgraded the storage. A few new things to get used to, but happy enough. Now if someone can tell me how to stop getting emails about responses, I would be done with this thread. EDIT: found it in preferences

Thank all for advice/comments

Cheers

Ralph

This is pretty bs Apple if the iPad 6th gen is still supported and almost has the same specs as the 7th gen it no being supported is bad because it’ll become much much more useless as devs are starting to use iPadOS 18 and won’t give any updates or apps to this version of iPadOS 17 so it would be nice if they release by the end of this year

My iPad 6th gen has the option to run the public beta for iOS 18 and it has the same A10 Fusion chip as the iPad 7th gen, which is among the listed devices to get iOS 18, so why isn't the 6th gen iPad getting it?

This is ridiculous. They just stopped sales of pro 6th March2024 and now it is already antique technology unable to be upgraded, but my wife's iPad pro 5th from 2 years earlier is still on the cusp of technological development and can be up graded to IOS 18

I have iPad6 and tried to download IOS 18 several times and I got “failed to download”. After deleting several apps and cleaning up pictures and messages I was able to download. I think I got to 19 - 20 GB used out of 32 and it worked. I plan to use iCloud to load apps back and any other space I need.

Re: “Mine want let me in I will confront apple ifi have to tf”

You may want it, but if it is not compatible with your iPad, I don’t believe that confronting Apple is going to get it for you.

Buying a new iPad that is compatible with it would.

Pls ios 18 for me ioad 7

Ok I’ve finally updated 17.7 in my gen 6 iPad… Will it die as my iPad 1 did when I can not update past 17.7… ios18 is out now??

Why? iPad 6 gen has the same processor as IPad 7 gen.

Does this mean I’ll have to replace my 6th gen iPad if I want to keep using what’s on it?

I am not sure but just giving a guess, I think it is to do with RAM as the 7th gen has 3 gigs compared to 2 gigs on 6th gen.